E72: All Models Are Wrong #1 Alex Balfour

Welcome to All Models Are Wrong, the first in a new occasional series of Unofficial Partner conversations that focus specifically on digital strategy in sport. We first met Alex Balfour when he was chairman of Cricinfo, now part of ESPN in the early days of sports first Dotcom boom. He was one of a small group of people able to articulate the then future of sport’s relationship with technology. It was no surprise then that he landed the key digital role at LOCOG, the organising committee for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Since then his career has included several landmark moments, he is currently CEO of Digital Brand Services and working on a digital strategy for the Commonwealth Games Federation, a Technology and Innovation Strategy for the Supreme Committee organising the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and advising on digital commercial strategy for CAAELeven, UEFA’s commercial partner for the 2020 European Football Championship (Euro 2020). The day of recording he’d just left his most recent project working with TEAM Marketing, UEFA’s exclusive commercial partner for the UEFA Champions League, Europa and Super Cups. Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.